“Cannabinoids are well known to have anti-inflammatory effects in mammalians; however, the Cannabis plant also contains other compounds such as terpenoids, whose biological effects have not yet been characterized,” states the abstract of a new study published by the American National Institute of Health, conducted by researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The aim of this study was to “compare the anti-inflammatory properties of terpenoids with those of cannabidiol (CBD)”. For the study, essential oils prepared from three non-psychoactive chemotypes of cannabis were analyzed for their terpenoid content and subsequently studied pharmacologically for their anti-inflammatory properties.
In their conclusion, the researchers stated that “the different Cannabis chemotypes showed distinct compositions of terpenoids. The terpenoid-rich essential oils exert anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive [pain-reducing] activities in vitro and in vivo, which vary according to their composition.”
Despite the apparent effectiveness of terpenoids, it was noted that none of the essential oils were as effective as purified CBD: “In contrast to CBD that exerts prolonged immunosuppression and might be used in chronic inflammation, the terpenoids showed only a transient immunosuppression and might thus be used to relieve acute inflammation.”
Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
